LATITUDE AND RIF TRUST BREAK UP; ARE THEY UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION?

Eric Major, Latitude Group CEO & Chairman

                    

For Migration Investment observers who have been puzzling over the recent separation of RIF TRUST and LATITUDE, two prominent industry players who several years ago merged their global operation, you need not wonder any longer; a confidential source from RIF leadership in Dubai, in a recent interview with myself, has disclosed that Latitude CEO ERIC MAJOR, was engaged in the action of approving, and facilitating the CARIBBEAN GALAXY scheme of illegally-discounted citizenships of Saint Kitts & Nevis, and of Saint Lucia.The same source at RIF Management advised during the interview that this was the principal reason for the breakup, as RIF's conservative management strongly disapproved of any conduct which would expose the company to any possible civil, or even criminal, liability, as a matter of long-standing company policy. Whether any of these citizenships sold with illegally-reduced pricing were purchased by individuals from banned or blocked jurisdictions may also be a major contributing factor. Clearly, RIF Trust blamed Eric Major and Latitude for the wrongdoing which occurred at the company.

Whether there will be litigation resulting from the separation, we cannot say, because we were unable to obtain confirmation that RIF TRUST has yet made a decision on whether to pursue their dispute in the courts, but given that the Prime Ministers of the Eastern Caribbean states that maintain CBI/CIP schemes have universally affirmed that they will be cancelling all illegal citizenships, it will be assumed that extensive litigation by unhappy passport holders will shortly affect RIF, which blames Major for  all the illegal transactions. This means that RIF litigation against Latitude and Major remains a strong possibility. Given that any civil litigation by and between the parties will for the most part, be publicly-available information, we will be closely following the course and progress of any such legal dispute, when it is filed. 

 Media reports claim that RIF had become a subsidiary of Latitude; although we are unfamiliar with UAE law on the subject, regarding how this will affect any litigation, we were unable to find any public announcement regarding whether court approval was requested, or obtained, for the Demerger.

Mimoun Assraoui, RIF Trust CEO

The dispute between the two entities is further complicated by the fact that the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts & Nevis has ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions, ADLAI SMITH, to open a criminal investigation into what he termed "irregularities," and directed that all the criminal investigators retained, save one, be from outside Saint Kitts, to insure that there would be no possibility of Undue Influence or Conflict of Interest. Our sources in Saint Kitts have reported that contracts for illegally-discounted amounts, from Caribbean Galaxy, originating from RIF & Latitude, are in the possession of Saint Kitts authorities. Will RIF Trust and Latitude still be in business, if their clients' citizenships are all revoked? We note that Eric Major refused to respond on our repeated written inquiries and requests for comments.We anticipate delivering further reporting on this important subject, as soon as we confirm additional information in our possession.